European Union – Employment. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling concerning the interpretation of art 1(1)(a) of Council Directive (EC) 98/59 (on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to collective redundancies). The request had been made in proceedings between Mr Balkaya and Kiesel Abbruch- und Recycling Technik GmbH concerning the lawfulness of a dismissal on economic grounds announced by the latter, upon the closure of an establishment, no notification of the projected collective redundancies having being given to the German Federal Employment Agency before that dismissal.